New DENIN Fellow Dannielle Pratt Aims to Understand Ghost Forests and Failing Cropland

Dannielle Pratt, doctoral student in civil and environmental engineering, was recently named a DENIN Environmental Fellow for 2022–2024. She’s studying sea level rise along the Delmarva Peninsula as part of the National Science Foundation–funded Coastal Critical Zone network.

Sea level rise is causing crop and forest die-off around the peninsula’s edges. When coastal forests die as saltwater intrudes into groundwater, they’re called “ghost forests.” It’s important that we understand where the loss of agricultural and forest land is occurring, and how quickly, Pratt said, as we attempt to identify mitigation measures, because these ecosystems help buffer other coastal areas from flooding, store carbon, and provide other ecosystem services.

Research by other Coastal Critical Zone scientists at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences has shown that in the Chesapeake Bay region more than 150 square miles of forests have converted to marshland since the mid-1800s. The rate of ghost forest conversion has increased each decade.

The rate of sea level rise in the Delmarva is among the fastest in the United States. The land is sinking as more groundwater is withdrawn, and canals and ditches carry saltwater inland during storms and high tides, exposing more land area to the effects of saltwater. Fresh groundwater is being salinized by the intrusion of saltwater. This water is important for irrigation, drinking, manufacturing, and recreation.

With guidance from her advisor, Holly Michael, director of DENIN and Unidel Fraser Russell Career Development Chair for the Environment, Pratt has outfitted with specialized hydrologic equipment two sites each in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia—one forested site and one farmland site. The farmer who rents the Maryland farm site stopped farming the plot this year because it wasn’t profitable.

“By understanding the drivers and mechanisms of hydrologic change,” Pratt wrote in her proposal for the DENIN Fellowship, “we can work to develop response strategies to prepare coastal communities for the future.”

The larger Coastal Critical Zone project, which includes collaborators at other Mid-Atlantic and New England universities, investigates the ecology, hydrology, and other natural processes at the marsh-upland boundary. It seeks to understand how changes in salinity and soil chemistry conditions affect soil nutrients and the ability of coastal lands to store carbon, and what’s causing salinization and flooding.

Pratt’s interest in the environment dates back to her childhood. She grew up in a rural area outside of Pittsburgh with a cornfield beside her house. She would spend all day outside exploring nature. She was also a Girl Scout.

In 2016 she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology from Syracuse University. She spent a semester in Australia and relished field trips to the Great Barrier Reef and other ecological hotspots.

In 2019 she earned a master’s degree in environmental science and management from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. There she had her first taste of working on a contentious science topic. She conducted environmental sampling of groundwater and surface water to assess possible impacts of oil and gas extraction. She educated homeowners with private wells about their drinking water quality.

Next, Pratt worked for a year as an environmental scientist with the Division of Waste and Hazardous Substances in the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. That led her to look for graduate programs nearby. She was excited when she learned about the work that Michael is doing on saltwater intrusion.

Pratt has relished having Michael as a mentor and role model of a successful female scientist. Pratt also admires the classical female scientists such as Jane Goodall and Rachel Carson for smoothing the road for women scientists to come.

“Probably every female in science struggles with self-confidence,” Pratt said. But facing down the challenge of learning how to install technical hydrology equipment at her field sites built her self-confidence and made her realize she is the expert in her research project.

When she finishes her doctoral work in about 2025, she aims to work for the federal government, perhaps the U.S. Geological Survey or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or continue on to a postdoctoral fellowship to pursue a research career in academia. She hopes to help find engineering solutions to sea level rise.

Pratt enjoys skiing and hiking and has a goal of visiting all the national parks. She volunteers with her young cousin’s Girl Scout troop to teach them about the natural world.

Credit: EcoWrite, LLC

Photo Credit: Amanda Spraque-Getsy